Haridwar: Haridwar municipal corporation, which had faced flak sometime back for not implementing the NGT-enforced plastic ban near the river, is now roping in private companies in a bid to ensure that Ganga ghats are clean. Haridwar municipal corporation (HMC) commissioner Vipra Trivedi said on Monday that the proposal to outsource the work to private companies will be finalized at a meeting of Namami Gange project to be held in Delhi on September 2.

The chosen firm would be entrusted with cleaning 100-m area on both sides of the Ganga across the municipal limits, Trivedi added.

The main hurdle the civic body had to face in cleaning Ganga ghats and their adjoining areas was various encroachments in the areas, including over a dozen restaurants being run on the ghats for years, Trivedi said. Once the work is assigned to private companies, the civic body will be free from the responsibility of removing these, she added.

Noting that papers have already been prepared to invite tenders from companies interested in undertaking the city’s cleaning work, the HMC commissioner said once these are approved at the meeting in Delhi, tenders will be floated soon afterwards so that companies may be allotted the work by the next month end. The companies will have to be worth over Rs 100 crore as per the tender requirements, she said.